Today is my brother, Robin's, birthday. Not only is he my brother, he's my buddy, my pal, my Boy Wonder. He's an amazing kid who lights up my life and sees the world from a unique perspective.
We went out for Japanese at Sushi Boat Town (bento boxes are the best!) and then came home to have cake and play games. Mom ordered the cake from Icing on the Cake in Los Gatos. Since Robin's such a fan of Reese's and the Chocolate/Peanut Butter combo in general, he got a chocolate peanut butter cake!
Peanut butter flavored cake with peanut butter filling and then totally covered in the best chocolate icing you will ever taste.
After we sang and Robin blew out the ginormous candle, we played a game called VisualEyes. Check it out! It's such a fun game!
I got the opportunity to be a guest on The Honey and Headphones Show last Friday night. If you don't know, and you probably don't since it's brand spanking new, my brother Ryan and sister-in-law Karen started a podcast. Ryan is The Robot and Karen is PlainJane. Together they are Honey and Headphones. We had lots of fun talking and laughing and having a plain old good time! You can listen to the sugar-coated hilarity here. Leave a note, let 'em know what you think!
In other business, I found this list on my friend Melissa's blog and thought it would be fun to post it with the things I've done highlighted in Pink. Pass it along!
...Things I've done and been to (Mine are in pink) 1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child - well, ok... not a child. Do fur babies count? 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the EiffelTower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible (& Book of Mormon) 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee 100. Read an entire book in one day
It's been brought to my attention that it's been a while since I've posted anything. A long, LONG while since I've posted anything. I've even been threatened with Bookmark Deletion if I don't post something soon! (Hi Holly!) So I'm trying to change my ways... AGAIN. I've got so many ideas for blog postings, I'm just lacking in follow-through. As it is with many things in my life... But anyway!
On October 6th, a mere six weeks ago, I started school again for the first time in a long time. My friend Holly and I, after going to visit the school, decided to enroll in the California School of Professional Fabric Design. Holly tells a much better account of it here, but she heard about it from her friend, Julee. I had heard about it from my Mom after she talked about it with Diana McClun - a good friend and heavy-hitter in the Quilting World and current student of the school. I thought to myself "If Diana's doing it, I can do it, too!" And let me just tell you, I am loving every minute of this! Even the late nights with the seemingly endless amounts of homework that seem to be taking over my life!
Homework consists of painting, painting, and more painting! I know, I've got it rough in terms of homework, right? It is so much more time intensive than I realized, but it is such good fun. When I'm done with what I'm working on I'll take pictures and post it.
While I'm doing homework I've been watching a lot of DVDs on my laptop as well as listening to CDs I had all but forgotten about. I'm even channeling my inner Rosie the Riveter while I listen to Mystery Play Old Time Radio on the internet. So much fun and I can totally zone out while I work just listening to all the old mystery shows!
While I was working recently I pulled out one of my favoritest movies of all time: EMPIRE RECORDS. I highly recommend this movie to any musicphile and anyone who ever thought it would be cool to work at the local music store. In a lot of ways, this movie defined my teenage years. Well... from 15 on, anyway.
I was able to find one of my favorite scenes from Empire Records on YouTube to share with you all!
A lot has happened over the past month in regards to birthdays. Both Dad and Ryan have birthdays eight days apart, so that always makes for some fun family times during August. And this year my dearest friend, Rachel, turned 30! There was no way we were not going to celebrate this milestone!
*Rachel's Birthday*
I had so much fun planning for and attending Rachel's Birthday Bonanza Fiesta! It was held in the Cultural Hall at one of the Church buildings so there was plenty of room to move around. There were tables for board games set up at one end and a treasure chest pinata tied to a basketball backboard on the other end of the Hall. Since it was Fiesta themed, it was only appropriate that Rachel should have a Birthday Sombrero! After we sang to Rachel and watched her blow out the candles on the awesome huge cupcake birthday cake our buddy, Melissa, made for her we did the Hokey Pokey. Because, you know, that's what it's all about! I think this was the funnest birthday party I have been to in a long time. Yeah, okay, I helped plan and execute it, but it was still one rockin' party!
*Dad's Birthday*
For Dad's Birthday we ended up in Cambria for the day. Our original plan was to go to a park and BBQ/Picnic and that quickly snowballed into driving 3 hours south to get some of the best BBQ on the Central Coast and hang out at the beach for the day.
So we drove...
We ate... We Scrabbled... We even got a decent family picture out of the trip!
Before we started our trek home we stopped in at McPhee's Grill in Templeton where the food is always heavenly. High praise, I know, but they do not disappoint. This is the only place I know of that has a caramel lime sauce to drizzle over their flourless chocolate cake and trust me, it's roll-your-eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head good. And their garlic mashed potatoes with goat cheese totally rivals the Potatoes Romanov from the Strip House in Houston (aka The Best Funeral Potatoes EVER!)
*Ry's Birthday*
For Ryan's birthday a week later we made reservations for a sitting at Petroglyph Ceramic Lounge in Willow Glen. It's such a cool place to go for an activity! You pay a flat fee for studio time, paint and supplies, and kiln firing afterward. Other than that you pay for the piece you want to paint. We've got a great set of non-matching dinner plates we painted during a Family Home Evening activity a while ago and they're actually the best plates we've ever had!
Not the most spectacular of places, but the food is decent and it's a great place to people watch. This little boy walked in with his dad, who was picking up a to-go order, and he just walked right on over to the table next to ours, sat down, and proceeded to chat with the waitress. So adorable! And he was seriously dressed up as Batman! We actually ended up not going to Petroglyph because they didn't have the pieces we wanted to paint on (the aforementioned dinner plates), so we opted for coming back home and going swimming. It was so much fun! We had our very own Cannonball/Handstand/Silent Marco Polo Olympics. Yep, Silent Marco Polo. I think they should add that to the list of Summer Olympic Sporting Events. They have Ping Pong (excuse me, Table Tennis) so why not Silent Marco Polo?
Anyway, that's it for the Birthday Round-Up as I leave you with a music video of my all-time favorite Birthday song!
I have gotten so much accomplished since my last post I just don't know where to start! I'll start with my embroidery project...
Thanks to the Summer programming on TV (SYTYCD, Burn Notice, Eureka) and now the Olympics - and, I must admit, the fact that my sewing machine is still downstairs among the graveyard of unpacked boxes - I've been able to spend a good amount of time working on my little embroidery squares I talked about a while ago. As of this post I've got 14 and a half squares done out of 20 squares. Yay! Hopefully, if I stay on track I'll have a finished quilt to take to Market with to show the wonderful Holly Holderman of Lake House! Here's a group picture of the blocks I've done since the original five. I'll put single shots of the blocks up on my Flickr.
Since my project area has been moved to my bedroom (my big, huge, GINORMOUS bedroom) I needed to get a desk that would accommodate my sewing machine and still have some storage. My old desk just wasn't up to the task, so I found this little beauty on a re-con mission to Ikea....
And look at how cute it looks in my room! (Pay no attention to that pile of clothes on my bed...)
It's got a huge surface (28"x48") for sewing, cutting, whatever and I love that there's a cubby area and an upper shelf for putting at-hand items within reach. And just to make it that much prettier I got the coolest little organizer to go with it!
It's from Making Memories and it was on sale at Beverly's which, in my book, should make it eligible for sainthood. I'm hoping that someday soon I can get these two together and we can make beautiful, um, sewing together.
Well, ok... on that awkward note, I hope you all have had a charming day!
A little gem I saw while watching the Olympics the other night:
So we're finally, finally somewhat unpacked. There are still things in boxes but we're up and running and having dinner at home. And thank goodness for that! If I see another Styrofoam box in the fridge anytime soon I think I might freak.
So since we're basically unpacked and our computers are all connected to the pretty-pretty network again not only can I resume blogging but I can catch up on one of my favorite TV shows!
So You Think You Can Dance started just as we were moving so I've been catching up with it via the loveliness that is the internet. The quality isn't the greatest, but I get to watch it, and that's all that matters!
They went throughout the nation to various cities a la American Idol to find contenders for the show and this year they stopped in Salt Lake City. There was some amazing representation from the great state of Utah and most of those dancers featured in that episode came through to the Top 20: Chelsie Hightower, Matt Dorame, Thayne Jasperson, and Gev Manoukian. And there's even a little representin' for San Jose in the form of Miss Katee Shean! Hollah!
June 11th marked the first show with the Top 20 and I was just able to watch it on Tuesday. There were some very strong performances, but my absolute favorite performances were the Hip Hop routines choreographed by Napoleon and Tabitha. Here's Rayven and Jamie's performance and here's Katee and Joshua's performance. Just amazing!
So last night the Top 18 performed and I have to say I'm kinda disappointed that not a lot of the contestants gave it their all. I really, really wanted to love Thayne and Chelsea's dance, not just like it. Chelsie and Mark were excellent as were Katee and Joshua. The routine that just gave me chills and choked me up a little was Jean Marc Genereux's Viennese Waltz. The whole basis behind this routine is that his daughter has Rett's Syndrome - a neorological disorder rendering her motor skills pretty much useless - and she just lights up when she sees people's movement and dancing .
It's a beautiful number that is beautifully executed, and then....
Mia Michaels, the guest judge this week, opens her big fat mouth and begins to tell Kherington that her smiling throughout the whole routine seemed "glossy." And then she just dumps all over her saying she would have like to see more "realism" in her facial expressions. Nigel jumps in to disagree and smooth over the needlessly harsh words and that just sets her off again. To shut her up Kat Deely asks the dancing couple what Jean Marc said to them about the emotions he wanted expressed in the routine. Kherington got maybe five words out and got choked up and the Twitch had to finish. Jean Marc wanted to emote happiness, exuberance, and joy... so the smiles were just what he ordered. Mary got choked up and teary and if Nigel weren't so British he would have, too.
This last week has been absolutely unreal in its hellish-ness. On Monday night at 5:00 we turned the keys over to the property owner and then at 10:00PM we finally moved the last box into the garage. Then a collective sigh of relief was followed by a sense of dread... we still have to unpack!!
Well, at least it'll be easier to be realistic while deciding what to keep and what to junk! It is so hard to do that while you're packing. In the stress of having to move and all it entails, everything becomes precious and suddenly you can't live without it. My Mom is the Queen of Precious. But I am very proud of her. She junked and donated a lot of stuff during this move. Some of it was even her mother's things that she's been holding on to since she passed away. So I'm doubly proud of her.
I, on the other hand, still have boxes to go through. Not just boxes, but boxes and boxes. I wasn't aware I had accumulated so much stuff. Some of it is really cool and the rest of it probably just belongs in a landfill in Hollister.
So, last night, since our kitchen is still in the aforementioned boxes, we ended up at the Mall for dinner... 20 minutes away from our new domicile. Robin wanted Sushi, and we don't trust sushi in Morgan Hill, yet. So anway, we end up at the mall and on our stroll back to the car we stop at the gaming/comic store Legends. On our way out of the store I practically gave myself whiplash when I saw this...
How charming is this book!?
It's done by Vicki Wong and Michael Murphy who are Meomi. Check out the website. There's even a blog! And for more excitement, check out the Octonauts in action!
It's been a long time since I've found another literary couple I can cheer on as fervently as these...
At last I've found one...
Edward and Bella...
They are the two main characters in the highly successful Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I picked up the first book, Twilight, shortly after Mother's Day on the recommendation of my Mother... who hates anything involving Vampires or Werewolves ... and she finished the book in two days. Two days!! I knew it had to be good. I didn't understand just how good...
I'm currently in the beginning chapters of the third book, Eclipse. So, that's what, almost 3 books in as many weeks? Umm, yeah. You REALLY want to read this.
I'm normally not a fast reader. I like to take my time when I read. But the ease in which Stephenie Meyer frames her characters and the world they live in automatically immerses you in their story. You instantly care for them and their... plight. And then there's the inevitable infatuation with Edward Cullen.
I've had grown women call our house and leave messages about how in love with Edward Cullen they are once they found out my Mom was a fan, as well. Then I realize I'm also considered a grown woman... oh, well! I'm actually pretty OK with gushing about how incredibly amazing I think Edward is especially since he's the perfect mix of chivalry, charm, and protector. Since Gilmore Girls went off the air - which I watched religiously with Mom every Tuesday Night for seven seasons - we haven't really found anything else to replace that. And with our new found mutual, shall we say 'respect', for these books and its characters (OK, one in particular) it's almost like having Tuesday night again.
Since we're moving this weekend, and doing all the things required for moving, I haven't had as much time to spend reading as I would like. So I downloaded the audio book so I can listen while I pack! And then when I go to bed, I find my place, and read until I fall asleep. I will be so sad when I'm done with the third book. But at least I have a fourth book to look forward to. It comes out August 2nd and I've already reserved my copy to pick up at 12:01 AM. And then there's the movie thats coming out on December 12th. What the heck am I supposed to do until then?!
Maybe its me. Maybe my imagination and vested emotional interest in these books and this world is a little too intense. I wouldn't call it an obsession, but there are some people in my family that would. (Hi Dad!)
Yeah, it's a sickness at this point, I think.
If you haven't read the first book, go out and get it. I warn you, once you start it will be hard to put down. If you need still need some convincing, check out the trailer for the movie. It will not disappoint!
It is so insanely hot... In May... I just don't know what to do with myself. Dealing with the heat towards the end of June and through to the middle of October is one thing. But in May? When it's supposed to be sunny and cool so the blooms from April's showers can make their appearance? Oh, no. My body has not yet readied itself for the daily berating thanks to the Sun's wanting to get extra snuggly with the Earth during those months. It's snuggling a little too soon in the relationship and the Earth needs to learn how to say "Back off, Jack!" Thank goodness it's supposed to get cooler over the next few days. Yesterday and today has just not been what I would call fun. So today when Robin asked me if I would take him down to Morgan Hill for band practice I jumped at the chance! You know why? The car has air conditioning. Oh, yeah!
So for about an hour this afternoon I was myself and not the brain dead, half passed out zombie I was for most of the day. At one point I was listening to the radio on my way back to San Jose and Pink Floyd's "Hey You" came on. I think I'm the only girl in my family that loves, loves, loves Pink Floyd and the genius that is David Gilmour. I am an oddity to the women in my family. Whenever I hear them on the radio I turn it up. Whenever I take a trip I always take one of their CDs with me. Something about the music the guys from Pink Floyd created transports me no matter where I am. Today in the car when their song came on I wasn't traveling in the car on my way to certain death in the heat. I was traveling in a cool jet stream without a care in the world. Except for the temperature gauge reminding me of the baking world outside, I was in a state of bliss.
See... I wasn't exaggerating. And you should see my left arm/right arm comparison. So not funny.
In the mean time, here's a video I found of one of my favourite David Gilmour songs. Enjoy!
Waiting for Mom to be done recording the Podcast. It's about 10:15 and LOST started 15 minutes ago and I have it paused on the DVR. It's just sitting there, taunting me, begging me to press the PLAY button... Someone in my position might give in seeing as the rest of the fam is in the office recording their parts for the "Quilting Stash Podcast Turns Three" Stash-i-sode. But I know all too well the repercussions of doing such a thing and I am not interested in unleashing the Wrath of Mom at this late hour. Well, ok, it's a lot less Wrath-like but the Indignant Level goes through the roof.
During my part in the recording of the Birthday Stash-i-sode I talked about embroidery blogs. Here are some charming blogs I talked about:
Feeling Stitchy - It's a group blog which mean there's more than one author submitting posts. There's also a Flickr group attached to this blog.
Deadlines are looming and all I can think about is...
...anything other than the task at hand.
I feel like over the last month or so I have become the Queen of Procrastination. "Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" has become my creed. And the worst thing about it is the little nagging feeling in my stomach, because the work isn't getting done, just keeps getting stronger and stronger. It's taking larger distractions to temporarily quell the ever-growing nag. Usually I can turn on the TV, get lost in a book or even pick up another project and I'm fine. Tonight I actually left the house to go see a movie. How sad is that?!
We went and saw Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. Let me just tell you how happy I am that I was finally able to see it! I talked about wanting to see Miss Pettigrew back in December and I thought I had missed my chance since it's been out for almost two months. After checking the movie listings this morning I was shocked to see that it was still playing in theatres. It was so easy to talk Mom into going and seeing it. And, of course, Dad would come, too! (Since Enchanted, he just loves Amy Adams!)
It is such a charming little movie and Amy Adams is nothing short of amazing. But OH. MY. GOSH. Lee Pace absolutely stole the show! He learned how to play piano for the part and he sings. Sings! He's not half bad, either.
I have been missing Pushing Daisies' original brand of quirky and endearing comedy ever since the Writer's Strike halted production on the show. For all of you who have been missing your weekly Lee Pace fix, go see Miss Pettigrew before it goes away. Otherwise you won't be able to see it until its released to DVD on August 19th.
Until then, here are some stills from the movie to keep you satisfied...
So I'm sitting here checking my email and chomping on some Mike and Ike Jolly Joes (they're grape flavoured!) and I realize I haven't posted anything since the Catherine Tate/David Tennant funniness. While I'm sure that tickled you as much as it did me, I think its time for an update.
I've been in full getting-ready-for-Market mode. That means making samples, correcting and editing instructions, and mailing things off at the 11th hour. And the worst part of it all? I'm not even going to be there! We're getting ready to move at the end of May and it just isn't going to work this time around. But hey, it's only six months til Houston, so I'll manage.
But what have I been working on? Just take a look...
Aren't those fabrics just the cutest little things you've ever seen? They're from the Classic Cottons (Exclusively Quilters) line called Off To Dreamland. All of the designs are based on a quilt purchased at an estate sale. I believe the quilt itself dates from the 1960's and all of the little motifs are so different. My favorite prints are the bunny prints. I'm pretty sure one of my Grandmothers had a stuffed bunny that was exactly like the ones on the fabric and was blue with pink pads and ears. I think that working with this line was meant to be!
Anyway, I've been working on finishing this quilt and as of right now, all I have to do is put on the borders, draw the scallop, applique dots on the border, quilt it, trim the scallop, and bind it. All of this and have it mailed off no later than May 10, including 20 pattern jackets for the sales reps to have at their stations in the Cotton Classics booth! Woo-hoo! I think I'll be able to get it all done as long the pain from the Gout stays away. If it doesn't, I just might end up like these two...
And that would NOT be a pretty picture!
Until the next post here's a favourite moment from one of my favourite shows...
So, since my last post, which was actually posted on March 27th and not the 17th (I can't figure out how to change the date after its been saved in drafts!), there's been a lot going on. I'll start with the most recent event... a trip to the Emergency Room!
Well OK, it's not as exciting as it sounds, but I did voluntarily take myself to the ER. Two weeks ago I got out of bed and was walking around like normal but my right foot's big toes was a little sore. I figured I had slept funny or stepped the wrong way on it and I didn't think anything about it. As the week went on the pain just kept getting worse and worse and I started thinking maybe I broke my toe or fractured the joint somehow. I hadn't gone to get it checked out since I'm between jobs with no health insurance so I just figured I'd tough it out.
Well, at about 4:00 in the morning on Sunday I found myself out in front of the TV trying to distract myself from the pain, which was pretty darn bad by then, and that just was not working. I mean, it hurt to even have my lightweight quilt over that foot. So I went to Church and someone told me about a hospital in our area that would be able to help me. I waited until Wednesday to call since I wanted to give it time to see if it would get better. It didn't. It only got worse.
I went into the ER at about 11:30AM and was released around 3:30PM. It wasn't even 30 seconds after I told the Doctor what I thought might be going on when she said "This looks like Gout to me." What?! Gout? What the heck is Gout? Well, I'll tell you. I'm now an expert on the subject thanks to WebMD. Gout is like Kidney Stones in your joints. Instead of the uric acid crystals settling in your kidney and accumulating into stones, they move throughout your body and get deposited on the Bursa Sacs of major joints. Mine just happened to be in the joint of my right foot's big toe. So a few X-rays and a prescription later and I was finally leaving the hospital... at 7:00 PM.Oh, what a day was...
My foot is a little better now. Still can't really wear shoes on my right foot just yet, and if I tap my big toe just the right way I can still see stars, but I'm on the mend. The silver lining to the whole situation was that I was able to work on one of my new projects! And I've got pictures to show you, too!
I have been obsessed with working on learning embroidery stitches ever since I got Jenny Hart's book Sublime Stitching. So I busted out all wicked with some Lake House Dry Goods Cherry Baby Charm Packs I got last year at Fall Market. They are oh-so-cute if you haven't seen them. So I sorted through the packs and found some polka dot prints that would work well as a background. I took these prints as well as two focus prints with me when I went to Michaels to pick my floss colors. So here are the inspiration fabrics I took with me...
And here are the colors I ended up with!
Just looking at the floss inspires me. It's just so beautiful! I had a friend mention to me that the greens don't match each other. I told my friend to look out the window and show me three greens in nature that match. She got my point. Anyway, I chose my colors and got to work! Here are the blocks I've done so far...
All of the patterns can be found in either Sublime Stitching or in the Pattern Packs they offer. Aren't they just charming! I'll post more squares as I get them done. Have a happy afternoon!
The lovely Annie at SimpleArts tagged me last week. I was still on my Birthday/Retreat high so its taken me a while to actually post my tag.
So the rules for being tagged are that you mention the person who tagged you, talk about seven things not necessarily known about yourself, list seven other bloggers you enjoy reading and tag them to join in the fun!
Ok, so here are seven things you may not know about me:
I'm a glutton for "reality" TV. My favorites are Amazing Race, Dancing With the Stars, Jon and Kate Plus 8, Little People Big World, Ghost Hunters, and So You Think You Can Dance. My favorite routine from last season is Lacey and Neil's Mia Michaels Contemporary piece. I've included a few other of my favorite routines from last season: Neil & Sara's Disco, Danny & Sara's Tango, and Sara & Jesus's Contemporary dance.
I lived, actually lived, in England for a summer when I was 18. Three whole months in England and it was wonderful!
One of my favorite places in the whole wide world is Disney Land! This is also one of my favorite places to souvenir eat!
My favorite Muppet is Kermit the Frog. I was fortunate enough to own a Kermit doll when I was little and he was one of my best friends. Besides, he taught me all about "Bein' Green."
I love to cook and experiment with recipes. My favorite things to make are Grandma's Apple Roll, Chocolate Pudding Fudge Cake with Chocolate Glaze, and Tuna and Noodle Casserole.
I love my sister-in-law and I am so glad she loves our family! She has become one of my very best friends... and not everyone can say that about their in-laws!
Sleeping Beauty is my favorite Disney Princess and is the reason for my passion of all things pink!
Now to name the bloggers I'm tagging! I only hope I can come up with seven! I'm tagging...
It's still my Birthday month and I'm finally able to sit down and write about my Birthday Weekend/SimpleArts Retreat. It was so much fun to hang out with so many creative women. I was excited to go and I don't think I realized just how much I needed to get away and recharge my batteries. I'm glad it happened when it did because ever since then I've been running around like a mad woman!
So anyway, here are some little highlights from the Retreat...
Friday was our little Shop Hop day. It's great because there's such an eclectic grouping of shops within a 45 minute drive of each other. Here's where we stopped:
The Quiltery in Paso Robles: Most of their fabric is only $5 a yard, so it's a great place to stop! But be careful... $5 a yard can still be dangerous!
The Quilter's Cupboard in Atascadero: I absolutely love the staff at this shop! They are the friendliest staff I have ever come across in a quilt shop. EVER. And I've seen my fair share of quilt shops!The orange and red collection is what I found at the Quilter's cupboard. The orange and purple collection is what I got as part of a ginormous door prize they gave us. What a treat!
Susan Branch's Heart of the Home Store in Arroyo Grande: I just want to snuggle up and make this shop my home! We were also very lucky that Susan was able to be there to meet with our group. She is such a swell gal!
Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream Lab in Arroyo Grande: OH! MY! HECK! This is one place you don't want to go if you're on a diet! They custom create all of their flavours and they even have a Periodic Table of Ice Cream! If you're in the area check this place out. You won't be sorry.
The Cotton Ball in Morro Bay: I love this shop. Plain and simple. I love it. They've got Fabric-Fabric, Decorator Fabric, yarn, ribbon, stuff for embroidery, and so much more! My most favorite "birthday gift" (thanks, Mom!) was the Sublime Stitching transfer packs and book I got at the Cotton Ball along with some floss and a hoop! I was in Seventh Heaven! Here's a pic:
All of my embroidery goodies now reside in my cute little Amy Butler sewing box I got at Joann's a while ago. It feels good to be so organized! What I got accomplished: Well, not very much got accomplished. If you count shopping, eating, shopping, eating, watching movies, fixing my Amy Butler Purse, eating, sleeping, getting my tootsies done and making another tote as accomplishments, well then, I was the most accomplished one there!
You can even see some of the movie we were watching in the background of the photo. I think we were watching Bride and Prejudice.
Here's a couple pictures of the other tote I made. I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning and my table buddy Holly stayed up with me! I got the fabric at the Cotton Ball and it's from Tina Givens's line. I just fell in love with those chandeliers!
The inside pockets are from Amy Butler's first line, Temple Flowers, when she was with Free Spirit. Because I was finishing my Amy Butler purse I brought my whole stash with me and tat fabric just happened to match perfectly. A girl has to be prepared!
And of course I have to talk about the food. The food! Annie brought one of Icing on the Cake's world famous German Chocolate Cakes and even had them write Happy Quilting! on it! It was so yummy and it lasted us all weekend. We had lots and lots of goodies on hand and, of course, the lovely people at Camp Ocean Pines kept us well fed. (Can you say "bread?") And of course, BBQ Monday! We stopped at Main Street Grill on the way out of town Monday afternoon. I so miss that place! Even if you're a vegetarian, stop there. They've got something for you, too! And, if anything, you can give yourself a good carb coma by eating a whole basket of their to-die-for fries!
A charming and relaxing time was had by all and I can't wait to do it again in September! Until next time!
